There’s a great café in downtown Milwaukee with a novel-sized craft beer menu and one of the best outdoor patios. In your own city, I’m sure you probably have some place similar.
What brings me here several times a month, though, isn’t either of these things.
It’s the sweet potato fries. Hand cut, lightly salted, and served piping hot. (Queue the drool.)
While this bring me in, as delicious as they are, it isn’t the reason why I keep coming back.
Like any smart business, this café has staffed themselves with friendly, helpful, hardworking people. And those who aren’t usually don’t last. Their establishment is clean, their prices are fair, and they serve a quality product.
Oh, and at the end of every meal, they include a survey card next to the bill.
If I asked you to raise your hand if you believe in customer service, I bet you would. If I asked you if you think you provide great customer service in your own business, I bet you’d raise your hand again. Now, here’s the really important one. If I asked you to raise your hand if you have a customer service strategy in place to gather, evaluate, and respond to customer feedback, would you be able to?
Believing in customer service and wanting to provide the best for your customers are fine ideas, but they aren’t enough to keep them coming back time and time again. And bringing their friends.
So how do you start building your customer service strategy today (or re-evaluate the old, dusty one you’re currently using)? Here are 5 ideas to get you going:
1. Be open. Not every one of your customers will love you all of the time and that’s ok. Criticism and bad experiences hurt, but being open to hearing it regardless helps you do something about it.
2. Provide an outlet. Whether it is a survey at the bottom of your customer’s receipt or a comment card that you leave on their passenger’s seat to return for an upgrade on their next oil change, give them a place to voice their experience. You might think you know how your customers feel, but you know what they say about assuming.
3. Follow up. Follow up with the good, the bad, and the greasy. Say thank you for the loyalty and support. Call an upset customer and listen before telling them how you’re going to fix what made them mad in the first place. An angry customer you connect with is an opportunity for a second chance. An angry, unheard customer will just go away forever.
4. Measure twice. Now that you have insight from real customers, take a look at what you’ve got in front of you. Why did you customers rate your Center Manager lower last quarter? What action resulted in 52 new, referral jobs in June?
5. Get to work. Change is never easy, but it is better than giving up market share to your competition. Pick a few customer service opportunities to start, like taking your average waiting room impression from a 2 to a 4, and don’t quit until you succeed.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the percentage of all customers who complete a survey card at this café (and some while eating sweet potato fries) is 50% or less. Heck, it’s probably more like 30%. But how much less customer feedback would they have if they didn’t even offer that card at all?

Even with it built into her job title, Director of Customer Experience Jennifer Porter learns something new everyday about the process to keep a customer happy. Any many times, the inspiration comes from outside of the shop. Have a customer service strategy tip? Share in the comments or with Jennifer directly.